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Daily News Digest – May 11, 2018

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Good morning and Happy Friday! Mother’s Day is Sunday so don’t forget. My mom is the best mom, though. Here’s your Daily News for May 11.

1. Lots going on with education.

State Superintendent contract

The State School Board approved a contract for new Superintendent of Schools Eric Mackey. After haggling over details for a few days, the board arrived at a competitive package worth more than $300,000 all perks included.

Lee had little to say in response at the time, but now he is responding in a lengthy statement of his own. Read that HERE.

A few things:

Lee confirms that he did vote in the 2017 Democratic Primary. He says he along with many in the district voted for eventual winner Doug Jones (true, but how many Republicans voted in the Democratic Primary?).

Lee specifically responds to the assertion that his contract work with the Alabama Education Association and writings in support of its positions go against Republican values.

He says Hooper, too, was paid by AEA back in 2014 (a pretty significant fact that many have pointed out to me since writing about this).

I asked Hooper about it. He said former AEA head Henry Mabry contracted him for strategic counsel on rebranding the organization to Republican voters and redirecting its objectives within the GOP supermajority in the Legislature.

“I gave advice to help Henry chart a more conservative path. We tried to find ways to change AEA for the better, to find common ground for them with Republicans,” Hooper told me.

There you have it.

3. On the campaign trail.

There is such a thing as bad publicity

This ex-con thing is starting to become a problem for former Chief Justice Sue Bell Cobb.

4. Another Bentley suit – but does this one have legs?

The person implicated in that – former OIT Director James Nolin – says it was a scheme by Former Governor Robert Bentley and Rebeckah Mason to ruin his good name and cover up their alleged affair.

Now he is suing Bentley for “conspiracy, invasion of privacy, defamation, abuse of process, intentional interference with business relation, outrage, and negligence,” and requesting a jury trial.

A few well-informed folks tell me this thing might have legs.

WSFA’s Jenn Horton has that story with the relevant document links HERE . AL Reporter’s Josh Moon has a story on it HERE.

5. Corey Maze nominated for federal judgeship.

Alabama Deputy Attorney General Corey Maze has been nominated for a federal judgeship.

President Donald Trump is nominating Maze for the Northern District of Alabama, the White House announced yesterday.

It’s an honor of a lifetime for Maze and another feather in the cap for the Attorney General’s office. Remember that Solicitor General Andrew Brasher is being nominated for the Middle District Court.

Attorney General Steve Marshall said of Maze:

“He possesses a broad base of legal experience from the prosecution of criminal trials and appeals as an Alabama Assistant Attorney General, to arguing cases before the U.S. Supreme Court as former Alabama Solicitor General, to successfully representing Alabama in the landmark BP oil spill case. An Auburn University alumnus and cum laude graduate of Georgetown University Law Center, Corey Maze is a man of the highest integrity and would be a great credit to the U.S. District Court.”

Read the official White House announcement HEREand see the report from WSFA HERE.